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Japan | Hakamada found religion, but then felt under attack by ‘the devil’

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Editor's note: This is the last in a four-part series on letters that Iwao Hakamada wrote while on death row. About a decade after cursing God, Iwao Hakamada was baptized Catholic at the Tokyo Detention House on Dec. 24, 1984. “Since I have been given the Christian name Paul, I am keenly feeling that I should be aware of the greatness of Paul.” (June 1985)

California: Convicted killer changes gender while on death row

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This progression of photos show Jason Hann as he transitioned to Jessica Hann while in state custody.
New birth certificate to list Jason as Jessica

DESERT HOT SPRINGS, Calif. - Documents just filed in Marin County, California show Jason Michael Hann is now known as Jessica Marie Hann, and is now a female "to match my gender identity."


California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Health Care Communications Chief Liz Gransee said as of February 2019, "10 patients statewide have been approved for gender-affirming surgery."  Due to HIPPA guidelines, she could not comment on specific inmates.

Hann's changing mugshots reflect his transition from male to female, the gender now indicated on her birth certificate.

On Feb. 21, 2014, an Indio judge sentenced then 40 year old Jason Hann to death for killing his infant daughter, named Montana, in 2001.  

At the time, Hann and Montana's mother, Krissy Lynn Werntz, now 39, were living in Desert Hot Springs.

Montana's body was found in a Tupperware container wrapped in a plastic trash bag in an abandoned storage trailer the couple had left in Arkansas.  

The couple was arrested in Portland, Maine, where they were living with another son, who was suffering from life threatening injuries.  That son was taken into foster care and later adopted.

The couple's arrest led authorities to find the body of a second infant in a trailer in Arizona.  

Authorities determined that the boy had been killed before their daughter Montana, at some point when the couple was living in Vermont.

Hann was convicted first in Vermont, and extradited to Indio, where a jury recommended the death penalty.

"These kids never had a chance at life so it was more than deserved, and I think he tried to cover up the crime as well," said alternate juror Bob Price.

A prison spokesperson said "The Eighth Amendment of the US Constitution requires that prisons provide medically necessary treatment for inmates' medical needs." California was the first state to pay for prisoner's sex reassignment surgery.

Hann in still in custody at San Quentin, which is a male-only facility, and she is allowed personal property items in accordance with her gender identity, such as a bra, hair rollers, or makeup.

Werntz was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for her role in Montana's death.  She is housed at Chowchilla, but some part of her case is being heard Friday in Indio.

Hann's attorney did not return a call for comment.

Source: kesq.com, Brooke Beare, March 14, 2019


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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
Location: San Quentin, CA 94964, USA
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